Pieces
by BuckKitty06
Summary: After Lily stumbles upon a cursed first year in the corridor, it is a race against time to find out who attacked the boy. With more and more students cursed each day, will Lily be able to stop it before it's too late?
1. Chapter 1

**Pieces**

_After Lily stumbles upon a cursed first year in the corridor, it is a race against time to find out who attacked the boy. With more and more students cursed each day, will Lily be able to stop it before it's too late?_

**Cracks in the Surface**

Lily Evans tried to control her panic and racing thoughts by taking a deep breath and releasing it slowly, the way her mother used to do. With her head still spinning and her mind unable to completely grasp what she was witnessing, she wiped her clammy left hand on her school robes and took one final deep breath.

Instead of exhaling slowly, she raised her wand to her throat, muttered a spell and then, in a voice much larger and louder than her own that was left reverberating off of the stone walls of the corridor, said one word: "Stop!"

Immediately, heads whipped around to see who had spoken. By the time Lily had reversed the spell on her voice box, 16 first year students stood staring at her, panic clearly written on their faces. She swallowed hard and quickly took in the scene before her.

In the midst of the panic, the terrified first years had dropped their belongings and, unsure of where to go, tripped over everything in their path. The resulting mess left the stone floor barely visible beneath bags, books, parchment and even broken ink bottles. The students themselves were a mess as well. Their faces were ashen white and many of them were crying.

Finally, she noticed the cause of all of the chaos. She dropped her own bag on the floor and rushed to the small group huddled near the corner. She pushed the thoughts that threatened to send her over the edge of calmness and back into panic down in her mind and focused on the situation before her.

Lying on his back, eyes closed and a small dribble of blood tracing the way from the corner of his mouth to his chin was a first year boy. Lily could clearly see that he was breathing, and that it wasn't labored. It looked as though the boy had been knocked out by his fall, if, in fact, he had fallen.

She looked at the faces of the students around her, also first year Ravenclaws. The first girl that she looked at backed up, shaking her head, and refused to talk. Irritated, Lily snapped, "Someone needs to tell me what happened right now."

She looked back at the girl, but she had taken off running down the corridor, stumbling slightly on the mess.

"I…I don't know. He was down where I got here," one boy said. "I was one of the first people here, he was already down."

Lily looked around expectantly at the other students. Finally, a girl spoke up from a nearby doorway. "I didn't see who it was, but someone cursed him."

"Cursed him? What kind of curse. What did he say?" Lily asked, trying to keep the panic out of her voice.

The girl began toying with her dark brown ponytail. "I don't know what he said, but I know that he threatened the girl that just ran away. He said that she'd be next."

Lily gathered her thoughts for a second. Turning to a boy sitting cross legged on the floor next to her, she asked, "Do you know where the seventh year charms classroom is?"

The boy shook his head sadly. "I'm only a first year!" he cried.

"It's ok," Lily assured him, although she wasn't quite sure of that herself just yet. "Does anyone where that classroom is?"

"I do!" a tall girl who Lily recognized as a second year Gryffindor spoke up, "It's just around the corner and three doors down!"

Lily nodded. "That's right. You need to go there. There's a class there right now. I need you to bring me Professor Flickwit and James Potter."

"Right."

"Who can find their way to the hospital wing?" Lily asked the younger students, wondering why on earth she was the only person who had happened upon this mess. "I need someone to run and get Madame Pomfrey, as fast as you can."

Two boys took off down the corridor in the opposite direction of the girl. Lily looked around at the other students. There were still about ten of them standing and staring at her.

"Does anyone know this boy's name?"

"Jake," the boy who she had originally asked to go find the charms professor and Head Boy answered. "He was my best friend."

"Well, Jake is going to be ok," Lily said, patting the boy's hand. "We're getting everything under control."

The boy nodded, but looked skeptically at his friend. He was still breathing evenly, as though he were simply taking a nap on the cold, stone floor. The small spot of blood, which Lily assumed was from where he hit his head, or maybe even where a spell had hit him, was beginning to dry.

The racing thoughts in her head seemed to be clearing now as she looked around at the remaining students in the corridor. Their faces where still pale and terrified, and a few were still crying. Lily couldn't blame them, after all, she wanted to cry, too.

"Can you do me a favor?" She asked the boy sitting next to her. He nodded his head, but didn't take his eyes off of his friend, Jake. "Will you go and stand there and tell me when you can see the professor?"

Reluctantly the boy stood up and made his way to the corner, his eyes trained on the hallway in front of him.

Lily knew that if it was her best friend lying motionless on the ground she wouldn't want to be separated, but she also knew that she was calmer now that she had busied herself with tasks, and that giving the boy something to focus on other than his friend would help him.

"How about we start clearing up this mess?" Lily said gently to the other students. "It will make it easier for Madame Pomfrey and Professor Flitwick." The first years surrounding her seemed to be relieved to have something to do other than stand there and watch their fallen classmate.

"They're coming!"

Lily's head shot up just in time to see the small boy standing guard at the corner waving to someone down the hall that she couldn't see yet. She could hear their pounding footsteps growing closer and closer, though.

"James!" Lily called as soon as she saw his messy black hair emerge. He scanned the destroyed hallway and found her kneeling over a small blonde boy. He nearly stopped in his tracks, but continued on and came to a sliding stop next to her.

"What happened?"

"I don't know. I was late for class and I came around the corner. Where's Flitwick?" Lily asked suddenly, realizing that only James was present.

"He's getting Dumbledore. He sent me to help you."

Lily nodded and continued with the story she abruptly finished. "His name is Jake. I turned and just saw stuff everywhere. They were all yelling and tripping over each other. One girl ran away, another one said that she was threatened by whoever cursed this boy." Lily ran her hand through her now tangled hair.

James let out a small whistle. "Whoa," was all he had to say. Then, "what do you have them doing?"

"Two boys went for Pomfrey. I told the rest to clean up the mess so that they had something to do other than stare at this poor boy."

"Miss Evans? Mr. Potter? Where is he?" Lily's stood and, resisting the urge to hug the school healer, gestured down to the floor where she and James had been guarding the boy.

"This is how I found him. I haven't moved him and no one has touched him."

Madame Pomfrey knelt where Lily had been moments before. "And you say he was cursed? What kind of curse?"

"I don't know! It was already over when I got here. The girl over by that classroom told me she thought he was cursed. Apparently a girl actually saw it happen, but she ran away. She said she was threatened by whoever did this."

"Professor Dumbledore, over here," James said, flagging the old professor down.

He hurried over to the where the boy lay on the floor motionless except for his breathing, never once taking his eyes off of him. "Thank you, Miss Evans. You've done a lovely job here. If you could tend to the others?"

It was more of an order than a question, and Lily understood that. She nodded her head solemnly, though she was sure he wouldn't see. His eyes remained locked on the small boy. Lily stood and rubbed her arms awkwardly while she thought of the best course of action.

The mess on the floor was nearly straightened out by now and the students were huddling uncertainly watching the headmaster and the healer kneeling over the body of a friend. Lily took a deep breath and made a decision.

"James," she said lowly, "we need to get these kids out of here. They don't need to be seeing what is happening."

James nodded in agreement, and then pointed to the classroom. Lily gave a smile of acknowledgement as thought to say, "You read my mind," and then gathered the first years.

"Ladies and gentlemen," she said, hoping her voice sounded authoritative, but not harsh. "I need you to please go into this classroom and have a seat." The students looked from her to James and then filed into the room, still completely silent.

Lily took a deep breath. There she was in her second week as Head Girl, and already something horrible had happened on her watch. She felt a comforting hand on her shoulder, and she muttered a quick "thanks" to James before going into the classroom herself.

She and James situated themselves at the front of the room, facing the younger students. It took all of her willpower not to cry right then and there. She had to hold it together, though. They were eleven years old, and while she was only seventeen, it certainly fell on her shoulders to keep the situation in control.

"My name is Lily," she started, and the students looked up at her desperately, as though they were waiting for her to tell them what to do now, how to get over what they had stumbled upon in the hallway on their way to class. "My name is Lily," she said again, "and this is James. If you didn't already know, we are Head Boy and Girl this year."

A few of the young students nodded their heads, but most remained as still as a statue, as though they too had been cursed like the boy in the hallway.

"We need to know," James started speaking and all eyes turned to him, "what exactly you saw."

The room remained silent as they looked around at each other, unsure of how to go on.

"Why don't you write it down," Lily said suddenly. "Write down everything you know and then we can use that to figure out what happened."

A few students moved to grab their quills and parchment from their bags, but most still stayed still as though they were in shock.

"If we want to find out who did this to your friend, who did this to Jake, we need to know what you know," James said, his voice soft and his eyes imploring. More students reached for their things and began scribbling, slowly at first, and then more fiercely.

"Thank you," Lily said quietly, offering a small smile to James.

Lily and James, for the most part, got along through their years at Hogwarts, but very rarely had either taken the other seriously. It was a big adjustment for both of them to be head students together. Lily had a hard time believing the things that James said because of his reputation as a jokester, but, she thought to herself, it wasn't so bad. When push came to shove, he did what needed to be done, and that was what was important.

"Do we need to put our names on these?" a girl with short blonde hair asked, her face contorted with worry.

Lily smiled reassuringly at her. "Yes, you do. James and I, and the Headmaster Dumbledore, are the only ones who will see them. No one else will ever find out what you said."

The girl nodded and wrote her name on the top of the page she had been furiously scribbling on.

"Before you leave," James said, as he walked through the rows collecting the papers from the desks. "We need to know the name of the girl who ran away, the girl who was threatened. Does anyone know her name?"

Two students made eye contact, the girl with a brown ponytail, and a boy sitting beside her. The boy nodded slightly to the girl, as though telling her to go ahead.

The girl swallowed and said, with her voice cracking a little, "Amelia. Amelia Donovan."

"Thank you," Lily said, "You have all been so much help. I'm so sorry that this happened, but we are going to work and find out who is behind this."

"Excuse me," James muttered to Lily and nodded to the door. "Dumbledore."

Lily nodded and continued addressing the young students while James went out to the headmaster. "I hope that we have enough information here to find who did this, so that it won't happen again. Hogwarts really is a safe place. This sort of thing is not taken lightly, and once we find who did it, Headmaster Dumbledore will take actions to correct the problem."

Unsure of what to say next, Lily kept glancing to the door until it finally swung open again. James reentered the room, his face ashen. "I've just spoken to Professor Dumbledore," he said loudly, "he advises you to return to your houses and stay there for the day. You are excused from class until further notice."

Lily glanced at James, but he refused to make eye contact with her. She pursed her lips in annoyance, and watched as the students filed back out of the room, still as silent as they had been when they entered twenty minutes before.

Lily was about to leave when she noticed one little girl who hadn't left yet. "Is there something you want to tell us?" Lily asked kindly, approaching where the girl sat alone at the back of the room.

The girl shook her head, her eyes trained on Lily. She glanced up at James once, and then back to Lily. She took a deep breath, and just when Lily was about to ask her another question, she thrust a piece or parchment at her, and said, "I found this," before she took off for the door.

Lily clutched the parchment dumbly, watching the girl flee the room. James pulled her from her confusion though and urged her to open the parchment.

"No," Lily said. "Not until you tell me what Dumbledore wanted. I want to hear everything."

James sighed and sat down. "They've taken the boy to St. Mungo's. They don't know what happened to him, and there's no way to tell."

"But he's going to be alright." Lily said it as a statement, not really willing to accept anything less than him being alright.

James shrugged. "Maybe he will be if you open the damn parchment."

Lily shot him a look before unfolding the paper. She read the words once, and then once again. The third time it sunk in. The terse message on the parchment seemed to dance and laugh at her, telling her she was never going to be able to stop what happened today from happening again.

James took the parchment from her shaking hands and read it for himself. He exhaled deeply and placed the parchment on the table, where Lily looked down at it again, just to make sure she hadn't imaged it the first time.

There, written is large, scratchy black letters were two words: "You're next."

**A/N**: Like it? Hate it? Let me know :)

Of course, I'm still working on Moving and Ways to Say No, but I had this idea and I really liked it, so here it is.


	2. Chapter 2

**Pieces**

_After Lily stumbles upon a cursed first year in the corridor, it is a race against time to find out who attacked the boy. With more and more students cursed each day, will Lily be able to stop it before it's too late?_

_

* * *

_

Lily tried to collect her thoughts as she approached the entrance to the hospital wing. She paused with her hand resting on the door handle and took a deep breath before pushing it open and entering the sterile, white room.

In all her years at Hogwarts, Lily had managed to keep her trips to the hospital wing to a minimum. Never in her trips, though, had she noticed just how quiet it was. Neither had she noticed the way that, even though the sun was shining in through the windows high up on the walls, it did little to cut through the heavy gloom that seemed to fall over everything.

Just as she was about to call out for the healer, she heard a quiet sigh followed by someone blowing their nose.

Lily's heart raced. He was awake!

She had come to the hospital wing to inquire after the boy she had found cursed in the corridor on her way to charms class only an hour before.

She turned towards the sound, and her hope immediately disappeared. It hadn't been the boy at all. It was the woman sitting at his bedside, holding his small, pale hand. Lily turned to leave, but stopped when the woman spoke up.

"H-hello?"

Lily tried her best to smile as she approached the woman. "Hello," she echoed back.

"It's just that…well, I noticed your badge. Are you the girl who…found him?" The woman asked as she wiped a stray tear from her face. "I'm so confused by all of this. I was just hoping that you could explain what happened."

"Yes…I did find him, ma'am. Maybe you better ask Madame –" Lily started, but the woman cut her off.

"She's in a meeting. With the headmaster."

Lily sighed and looked around the room. Sure enough, the office door was shut tight. "I'm afraid I don't know anything more than you do. I'm terribly sorry."

The woman nodded her head. "I understand. I'm just so confused about all of this. I mean, I get a letter telling me my son is a wizard, and just when I come to terms with that, a strange man pops – quite literally pops!- into my office while I'm in a meeting and tells me my boy is hurt and I need to come with him immediately –" The woman went on, and Lily stood awkwardly listening as the woman, whose eyes never left her son's face, continued to tell her story of how she came to be by his side.

"I'm sure that you've very confused and upset, ma'am," Lily said. "I can only imagine what it must be like. Neither of my parents are magical, so I'm sure that they would be just as confused if they were thrust into this place the way you were."

For the first time since her initial greeting, the woman looked up. "You're very kind. I'm afraid I don't remember your name, though."

Lily smiled. "Lily. Lily Evans."

"It's lovely to meet you, Lily Evans. I apologize. I get a little bit crazy about my son, sometimes. He's my only one you know. Professor Dumbledore said that you probably saved his life, finding him and getting him help like you did."

"Miss Evans?"

Lily spun around at the sound of her name and saw that Professor Dumbledore and Madame Pomfrey had finally left her office.

"Professor. Madame," Lily greeted, nodding her hello. "I was just…er. I was here to check on…"

"It's quite alright, my dear," Madame Pomfrey said, absently fluffing a pillow on an empty cot. "It's quite all right."

"Miss Evans. A word, please?" Lily nodded and made her way over to the old man. She turned and gave a small wave to the woman sitting with the boy, but her attention was already back to her son.

"Yes, Professor?"

"I would like to speak with you and Mr. Potter this evening. I have a few errands to take care of, however, I think 8 o'clock ought to give me plenty of time."

"Eight o'clock," Lily repeated, nervously fidgeting. "Right."

"And Miss Evans?" Lily looked up into the kind face of her headmaster. "Do be careful on your journey to the common room. I fear these halls are not as safe as they once were for you."

"I will, Professor. I'll see you this evening."

Lily checked her watch as she left the hospital wing for Gryffindor Tower. It was nearly four in the afternoon. Lily had a hard time believing that it had not even been two full hours since she was rushing late to Charms class. She walked quickly, her wand clutched tightly in her right hand as she made her way through the corridors and up the staircases that would take her to the common room.

"Lily!"

Lily stiffened and tightened her already tight grip on her wand. She swung her head around, and immediately let out the breath she had been holding. "James," she said, placing a hand over her beating heart. "You scared me."

"What are you doing out by yourself?" He demanded, his eyebrows knit with worry. "I thought you were going to go to the library with Marlene to do research, and then I ran into her in the common room a few minutes ago."

Lily shook her head. "I changed my mind. I went to the hospital wing instead. Let's get inside. We'll talk about it there," she said, motioning towards the portrait guarding the entrance to the common room just a few paces down the corridor from where they had found each other.

A few moments later, Lily and James were sitting in a secluded corner of the common room. As she retold the events that took place after she had left him in the classroom, she absently braided a few strands of her red hair.

"So, he wants to meet with us as eight?" James asked, leaning back in his seat.

Lily nodded her head and began to run her fingers through her hair to undo the small braids she had just put in it.

* * *

That evening, as they made their way to the headmaster's office, Lily and James walked quickly, peering through the gloomy corridors as though they were waiting for someone to pop out at them at any moment.

"Do you think I should tell him about that note?" Lily asked, her voice low as they neared the office.

"I can't see why not. He needs to know that there's a threat of this happening again," James said, shrugging his shoulders.

"He seemed to already think that it was a possibility. Remember what he said to me? The corridors weren't safe for me?"

"Lily…" James said sternly. He stopped walking and reached for her shoulder to stop her as well. He peered into her eyes and said, "He needs to know."

Lily sighed and nodded her head, "You're right."

After another moment of silence, they continued walking and mounted the stairs leading up to the headmaster's office. They paused at the top as James raised his hand and knocked lightly on the door and then waited for an answer.

"Come in, please," Professor Dumbledore called from inside the office. Lily and James exchanged a look and then opened the door and walked into the office.

After gesturing for his head students to take a seat, Dumbledore himself sat down behind the large wooden desk to face them.

"Professor," Lily asked, once he sat down. "How is he? How is Jake?"

The headmaster looked grave, though Lily could not read his face any further than that. "He has been taken to St. Mungo's this afternoon. Shortly after your visit."

James shot Lily a look, but she ignored it. She knew that he was still mad that she had wondered off on her own, but she could handle herself. She pressed the headmaster for more information, but did not give any.

Instead, he said, "While I understand that today has been rather upsetting, I must ask more of you."

Lily nervously bit her lip and wrung her hands in her lap. She knew that James was waiting for her to interrupt the Headmaster and tell him about the note, but that would be rude. She decided to wait.

"I only have two eyes and two ears, you see," Professor Dumbledore said, his eyes sad behind his glasses. "I need you to act in my place. I need you to soak up what you can and report it back to me. I need to know what is going on in this castle."

Lily nodded, not sure what exactly he wanted. James, however, spoke up. "Professor, what exactly do you need us to do?"

Dumbledore took a moment to collect his thoughts and then finally spoke. "A pensive is an intriguing thing, is it not?" He stood from his seat and Lily and James tracked his movement across the office with their eyes. He opened a cupboard and a strange glow lit his face.

Lily had read about a pensive once while doing research for a project, but had never really looked into any further. She knew that it stored memories, but that was all.

"Pensive," Lily said, more of a statement than a question.

"That's right Miss Evans. I trust you know what a pensive does?"

Lily began to answer, but James beat her to it. "It allows you to relive your memories. Well, whatever memory is extracted anyway."

Dumbledore nodded, and Lily sat quietly, trying to piece together the information. As usual, Dumbledore never quite came out and said anything.

"You want our memories," Lily said after another moment of thought. "You want us to report back with our memories?"

"I would," the headmaster said, nodding his head gently. "And I would also ask your permission to be the one to retrieve them myself. Risky business, retrieving memories when you're not used to it…"

Lily and James exchanged a look, but both nodded their heads. Lily was pretty sure it wasn't a question, and that Dumbledore merely asked out of politeness and formality.

"If you don't mind, Miss Evans." He looked pointedly at her and she swallowed hard.

She numbly walked over to her headmaster. He wouldn't hurt her, surely. She had no idea what to expect, however, because she had never had a memory extracted before. Dumbledore drew his wand as she approached him, and smiled kindly at her.

"Don't worry, my dead Head Girl. It is quite pleasant, actually," he said, as though reading her mind. She nodded and then closed the gap between them. Just as he was about to raise his want to her temple, though, she spoke up once again.

"Professor?" She asked, her voice sounding more timid that she would have liked. "Is it…Well, am I going to be able to remember these things after you, er, extract them?"

The headmaster let out a small chuckle. "Of course, Miss Evans. Now, do not fear. Simply think of the events of this afternoon and I'll be able to extract them."

Lily nodded slightly and glanced over at James who gave her a nod of encouragement. She took a deep breath and began to recall the events of the afternoon – rushing late to charms, finding the chaos in the charms corridor, the note left in the deserted classroom. She felt a slight tingle and a coolness rush through her, and she opened her eyes in time to see Dumbledore deposit a long, silvery string into the basin in the cabinet that was emitting the strange glow.

"Thank you, Miss Evans. Mr. Potter, if you please." Lily, relieved that her job was done, let out a breath she had been holding and headed back towards the chairs where she and James had been sitting moments before. As she passed James, he gave her a smile.

Later that evening, as Lily finally sat down in her bed, she felt as though she had run a marathon. It seemed like it had been a year ago that she had last been in the familiar, circular room. She glanced at her roommates, all busy with various tasks, and lay back against her pillows.

She couldn't help but feel that her privacy was being invaded. Didn't Dumbledore trust her to tell him the truth? Did he think that she would keep things from him?

For a moment, her mind went back to the conversation she had out in the hallway with James. Maybe he had heard. Maybe he knew that she was only going to tell him about the note because of James' insistence.

She shook her head and tried to clear out the images of a pale little boy in the hospital bed and the imploring eyes of his mother as she closed the curtains around her bed and drifted off into a fitful sleep that would turn out to be the best night's sleep she would get for some time.

* * *

Lily wasn't sure what had woken her first, the violent shaking she received, or her brain registering the meaning of "It's happened again, Lily," but she sat up bolt straight in bed and blinked a few times, trying to bring the faces around her into focus.

Mary MacDonald peered back at her, her hand still gripping Lily's shoulder firmly. "It's happened again. Get dressed!"

Lily jumped out of bed and got dressed, thought she could not quite recall doing either of those things. Her brain was already ten steps ahead of her.

"Where am I going, Mary?" Lily asked as she grabbed her wand and threw her hair into a ponytail.

"Great Hall."

Lily didn't wait for anymore information, she took off as fast as she dared to go down the stairs to the common room for fear of twisting her ankle and becoming useless. The common room was nearly empty, which seemed unusual. She hoped that people were still in bed, or already on their way to classes, not gathered in the Great Hall.

When she reached the entrance hall, she was nearly too winded from her trek down seven flights of stairs to ask questions. She saw the crowd gathered near the double doors leading into the Great Hall, and pushed her way through to the front.

"What's going on?" She asked, looking at the faces around her and then finally looking down. She gasped at what she saw. The girl laying on the floor, looking just as the first boy had looked, was a well known fourth year Hufflepuff named Stacy Hughes.

She, Lily knew, was a muggle born.

* * *

A/N: Hello! I had a day off today and I thought, what a better way to spend it than making cookies (Yum!) and writing this chapter (Yay!). Thanks to everyone who reviewed last time! I hope you enjoy this chapter, too :)


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